Travels Of Richard And John Lander Into The Interior Of Africa For The Discovery Of The Course And Termination Of The Niger By Robert Huish
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His Companion Caused Him To Be Buried
With The Honours Of The Country.
The body was washed, wrapped in
turban shawls, and a wall of clay built round the grave, to protect
it from wild beasts; two sheep were also killed and distributed
amongst the poor.
Katungwa, the first town of Houssa proper, and the next on the route,
is situated in a country well enclosed, and under high cultivation.
To the south is an extensive range of rocky hills, amid which is the
town of Zangeia, with its buildings picturesquely scattered over
masses of rocks. Clapperton passed also Girkwa, near a river of the
same name, which appears to come from these hills, and to fall into
the Yeou.
Two days after, he entered Kano, the Ghana of Edrisi, and which is
now, as it was six hundred years ago, the chief commercial city of
Houssa, and of all central Africa. Yet it disappointed our traveller
on his first entry, and for a quarter of a mile scarcely appeared a
city at all. Even in its more crowded quarters, the houses rose
generally in clusters, separated by stagnant pools. The inhabited
part on the whole, did not comprise more than a fourth of the space
enclosed by the walls, the rest consisted of fields, gardens, and
swamps; however, as the whole circuit is fifteen miles, there is
space for a population moderately estimated, to be between thirty or
forty thousand. The market is held on a neck of land, between two
swamps, by which, during the rains, it is entirely overflowed, but in
the dry season it is covered with sheds of bamboo, arranged into
regular streets. Different quarters are allowed for the several kinds
of goods; some for cattle, others for vegetables, while fruits of
various descriptions, so much neglected in Bornou, are here displayed
in profusion. The fine cotton fabrics of the country are sold either
in webs, or in what are called tobes and Turkadees, with rich silken
strips or borders ready to be added. Amongst the favourite articles
are goora or kolla nuts, which are called African coffee, being
supposed to give a peculiar relish to the water drunk after them; and
crude antimony, with the black tint of which every eyebrow in Houssa
must be dyed. The Arabs also dispose here of sundry commodities that
have become obsolete in the north; the cast-off dresses of the
mamelukes and other great men, and old sword-blades from Malta. But
the busiest scene is the slave market, composed of two long ranges of
sheds, one for males and another for females. These poor creatures
are seated in rows, decked out for exhibition. The buyer scrutinizes
them as nicely as a purchaser with us does a horse, inspecting the
tongue, teeth, eyes, and limbs; making them cough and perform various
movements, to ascertain if there be any thing unsound, and in case of
a blemish appearing, or even without assigning a reason, he may
return them within three days. As soon as the slaves are sold, the
exposer gets back their finery, to be employed in ornamenting others.
Most of the captives purchased at Kano, are conveyed across the
desert, during which their masters endeavour to keep up their
spirits, by an assurance, that on passing its boundary, they will be
set free and dressed in red, which they account the gayest of
colours. Supplies, however, often fail in this dreary journey, a want
first felt by the slaves, many of whom perish with hunger and
fatigue. Clapperton heard the doleful tale of a mother, who had seen
her child dashed to the ground, while she herself was compelled by
the lash to drag on an exhausted frame. Yet, when at all tolerably
treated, they are very gay, an observation generally made in regard
to slaves, but this gaiety, arising only from the absence of thought,
probably conceals much secret wretchedness.
The regulations of the market of Kano seem to be good, and strictly
enforced. A sheik superintends the police, and is said even to fix
the prices. The dylalas or brokers, are men of somewhat high
character; packages of goods are often sold unopened bearing merely
their mark. If the purchaser afterwards finds any defect, he returns
it to the agent, who must grant compensation. The medium of exchange
is not cloth as in Bornou, nor iron as in Loggun, but cowries or
little shells, brought from the roast, twenty of which are worth a
halfpenny, and four hundred and eighty make a shilling, so that in
paying a pound sterling, one has to count over nine thousand six
hundred cowries. Amid so many strangers, there is ample room for the
trade of the restaurateur, which is carried on by a female seated
on the ground, with a mat on her knees, on which are spread
vegetables, gussub water, and bits of roasted meat about the size of
a penny; these she retails to her customers squatted around her. The
killing of a bullock forms a sort of festival at Kano; its horns are
dyed red with henna, drums are beaten, and a crowd collected, who, if
they approve of the appearance and condition of the animal, readily
become purchasers.
Boxing in Houssa, like wrestling in Bornou, forms a favourite
exercise, and the grand national spectacle. Clapperton, having heard
much of the fancy of Kano, intimated his willingness to pay for a
performance, which was forthwith arranged. The whole body of butchers
attended, and acted as masters of the ceremonies; while, as soon as
the tidings spread, girls left their pitchers at the wells; the
market people threw down their baskets, and an immense crowd were
assembled. The ring being formed, and drums beaten, the performers
first came forward singly, plying their muscles, like a musician
tuning his instrument, and each calling out to the bystanders - "I am
a hyena." "I am a lion." "I can kill all that oppose me." After about
twenty had shown off in this manner, they came forward in pairs,
wearing only a leathern girdle, and with their hands muffled in
numerous folds of country cloth.
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